Choosing Life
by sportmuffel
Summary: A brief one-shot about Ginny, as she prepares to return to Hogwarts for her final year. What might she be thinking and what memories might she be dwelling on.


**Choosing Life**

**A brief one-shot about Ginny, as she prepares to return to Hogwarts for her final year. What might she be thinking and what memories might she be dwelling on**

Ginny stood on the familiar platform looking at the familiar faces surrounding her: her parents, bothers, friends and most importantly Harry, who she hadn't let out of her sight all summer. Her head was telling her that she should be excited; looking forward to her final year at Hogwarts. She knew that Voldemort was dead and never coming back. McGonagall was headmistress now and everything would be back to normal. But Ginny also knew that she would never be able to erase the painful memories of the last year at Hogwarts no matter how many happy ones she already had or would make in the future.

_*Flashback*_

_Ginny was standing in a cold dungeon filled with terrifying reminders of previous detentions and previous horrors that students had endured at the hands of the Carrows. The brother and sister pair were equally sadistic Death Eaters and unfortunately for the students they seemed to take great pleasure in their roles as head of discipline. This time Ginny had been unable to contain her disgust at the nonsense that the sister Alecto was spouting about the place of muggles and muggleborns in the "great" new wizarding order. They viewed muggles as the lowest of the low and the root of all of the wizarding world's problems. Ginny couldn't just sit there and say nothing she had to stand up for what she believed in and knew to be true. She had seen the effect that it had on others when Harry stood up to Umbridge during her fourth year and in these dark times she desperately wanted to give people hope that this wasn't the only way. She was especially worried for the younger years who had little experience of how Hogwarts and the world had been before the fall of the ministry and Thicknesse's "appointment" as minister. This made the younger students much more vulnerable to being indoctrinated by the rubbish that the Carrows were spewing. Ginny, Neville and Luna bore the brunt of the Carrows' attention as they were the leaders and figureheads of the newly reformed Dumbledore's Army which was committed to resisting the Carrows as much as possible. Events had taken a much darker turn at the Christmas break when Luna had been abducted from the train by Death Eaters to stop her father and the Quibbler being vocal supporters of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Ginny knew what to expect from her punishment as the Cruciatus had long since become standard as punishment for any student who broke any of the countless rules. It was even used on students for something as simple as being late for a lesson. The other teachers were required to hand students over to the Carrows for punishment and they did everything in their power to avoid this but often the decision was simply taken out of their hands._

_With a deep breath Ginny steeled herself and prepared to accept her punishment as she heard the creak of a door and the Carrows' gleeful voices inch ever closer._

_*End Flashback*_

She hated that the Wizarding War had had this effect on her. It corrupted good memories and destroyed what should have been a happy, safe and welcoming place for Ginny. Her feeling of unease wasn't helped by the fact that she would have to leave Harry yet again. He decided to accept Kingsley's offer of a job in the Auror office. It was thought that he had enough real world experience to render NEWTS unnecessary. This year would be the longest they had been apart since the end of the battle and Ginny couldn't shake of her fear that she would lose him again. It had been agony to see his supposedly dead body and Ginny felt her heart breaking at the mere memory.

_*Flashback*_

"_NOOOOO" screamed Ginny as she saw the one thing that she had never dared to believe possible. Her pain and anguish was so immense that she was certain that she could feel her heart breaking into a million little pieces. The physical pain she felt was far worse than any torture she had endured over the previous year. She knew that the sight of the dead Harry Potter at the feet of Voldemort would be forever burnt into her brain. Slowly her other senses returned to her and she realised that the air was filled with other, similar cries of anguish and despair; from Ron, Hermione, her parents. Worst of all she heard the ever strong McGonagall utter a scream, filled with grief and torment; vocalising the pain that everyone who had been fighting to defeat this monster was feeling. Ginny felt herself running forward although it was as if she was acting on auto-pilot, a mere passenger in her own life. The faces of those who had given their lives to fight for a better future for everyone and for the future generations flashed in front of her eyes. Lupin. Tonks. Colin. Fred. Harry. Ginny was single-minded and determined that this would end today. That no one would die in vain. That their children would grow up safe and happy, never having to experience this fear and pain. Yet before she could reach her target Ginny felt the strong arms of her father embrace her and stop her in tracks. She struggled against him as Voldemort continued to slander Harry even after his death by implying that he had died as anything other than a hero. She knew full well that he was a noble prat and would have willingly given his own life if he thought that it would stop others being killed in his name. _

_*End Flashback*_

As Ginny stood standing at the scarlet train and the familiar faces all around her she knew that she may be in pain, she may miss Fred and she may be scared but she wasn't broken. Voldemort had caused enough damage to her family and the wizarding world as whole. She would not and could not let him take this part of her and destroy Hogwarts for her. Taking a deep breath and waving good bye to her family for the last time Ginny boarded the train knowing that whatever this year threw at her she could handle it and that while she would never forget what happened at Hogwarts during her sixth year, she would move on from it. She owed it to herself and all of those who gave their lives fighting for this future to make the most of it and to seize every opportunity which came her way. Leaving to find her friends Ginny knew that this was a new beginning for her and she would make sure it was a good one because she chose life.

**A/N: This was my first story so I hope it was OK. Please review if you want, I welcome any and all reviews and thank you for reading. I wasn't sure about the rating so please say if you think I've got the wrong one.**


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